Invitation
by jealousjelly
Summary: Aubrey owns a daycare where a familiar persons children go. When she gets invited to their birthday party she meets someone very interesting. Should be read after the Braid series.
1. Chapter 1

"Bye Alison I'll see you Monday. Don't forget to show your Mom how well you write your name!" She smiled at both the little girl and the mother who looked very eager to go home and take a nap.

"I won't! Bye Miss Aubrey!"

She waved and went back inside of the daycare. As the owner of one of the two daycares in Charming she was a very busy woman. A total of twelve kids and three employees kept her on her toes and left her exhausted at the end of the day. It was hard but she wouldn't have it any other way. She looked at the two remaining kids who played quietly on the floor and the one younger employee Caitlyn who was jumping to get out of work. Aubrey vaguely recalled her mentioning she had a date later. Aubrey smiled, dating. She hadn't dated in over ten years. After her husband died she had moved away from their small town and opened this daycare.

"Why don't you head out Caitlyn?"

Caitlyn's face lit up, "You sure? I can stay if it's too much."

Aubrey waved her hand, "These two are angels. You go. Their mom called and said she was having car trouble so she'll be late. You head out. I'll see you Monday morning."

Caitlyn thanked her over and over as she gathered her things and headed out. Aubrey sighed and looked at the twin three year olds playing with race cars and motorcycles, "Your mom is having a bit of car trouble guys. She should be here soon. Would you two like a snack?"

They both nodded and quietly put the toys away before sitting at their table. Andy shook her head; those were some well behaved kids. She'd been working with kids for thirteen years and it was very rare to see kids like that now a days. When their parents had first showed up and put in an application for the twins she had been slightly worried. Twins could be a handful and their father…had a reputation. But it was definitely a case of never judge a book by its cover. Sadly she had lost a few clients. Not all people were as accepting as she was.

She poured two glasses of apple juice and gave each a handful of crackers before settling next to them with some paperwork.

"What's all that paper for Miss Aubrey?" asked a tiny voice.

"These are report cards I'm going to send home to everyone's parents. See? This one if for you Paxton and this one is for you Addison." She smiled and showed each child the slip of paper.

Addison looked at her paper carefully, "Are you going to tell my Daddy I didn't share my doll this morning?"

Aubrey smiled, she was clever, "Well, I think we talked about sharing enough that I don't need to mention it to your Dad but it's something you have to practice ok?" Addison nodded and gave her brother her juice.

"Miss Aubrey, what do you on the weekend? Do you stay in the daycare?" asked Paxton.

Aubrey chuckled, "Well let's see, I go to the library and to the park. I go to the store to buy food for the daycare. I visit my parents sometimes but no I don't live in the daycare."

"Told you!" said Addison excitedly, "Nobody lives in a daycare."

Paxton looked sheepish, "Well she's always here."

"Well I own the daycare sweetheart I have to be here a lot but I do have a house right down the street."

The sound of a car parking outside and a door closing a few seconds later made her jump, "Alright guys! It sounds like your Mom is here. Grab your coats and bags."

The door opened and in stepped Paxton and Addison's mother.

"I am so so sorry that I am late."

Aubrey smiled, "It's no problem Mrs. Lowman. They were fantastic as always."

Both kids rushed over to their mother and hugged her tight. It was a chorus of I missed you and other small details of what the kids did during the day.

"I'll be sending the report cards home Monday with field trip slip. If you're free we're looking for volunteers to help chaperone."

"I would love to! I'll make sure to request the day off of work. Did the kids give you the invitation?"

"Yes they did, I'd be more than happy to go their party. Is there anything I should bring?"

Mrs. Lowman shook her head, "Nope, just you and your appetite. These two have a lot of family who likes to cook."

"Fantastic. I'll see you then."

They all waved and said goodbye leaving Aubrey alone with a very quiet daycare to clean. She sighed and picked up the leftover bits of their snacks. It was the quiet times like this that she both loved and hated. She could think when it was quiet, but then again sometimes she thought too much.

She checked her watch and bit back a curse. She needed to run to the store for her dinner tonight and pick up birthday gifts for the twins. She made a mental checklist of the leftover things to clean and promised herself she would be back tomorrow night to finish up.

Grabbing her keys and jacket she stepped out of the daycare and locked the door behind her. She had just enough time to run to the store if she left now. She would get Paxton a book about motorcycles, he loved to read. And she would get Addison a new coloring book, she was always coloring. Content that she had made good choices for both kids she walked to her car quickly and got in. The sooner she got shopping done the sooner she could eat and go to bed.


	2. Chapter 2

Aubrey pulled up to the small house three miles from her own small home. The mailbox had red balloons tied to it and they blew in the breeze. Nervously she counted the bikes; eight and the cars; three. She parked her car behind one of the small four doors and pulled down her mirror to check her hair. Nerves had her pulling out her chapstick and running her fingers through her short black hair. Her blue eyes scanned her appearance one more time before flipping up the mirror and grabbing the presents for the twins and her keys.

She knocked on the door and waited a little under a minute for it to open.

"- beer. Grab some from the fridge." The voice on the other side of the door was deep and gravelly, Aubrey recognized it. The door swung open and she was greeted with the father of the twins.

"Hello Mr. Lowman."

"Aubrey, come on in. The kids are waiting for you."

She smiled and walked into the air-conditioned house. It was well furnished but simple and the colors were basic. She followed him through the living room and into the kitchen where three women were gathered. They looked up quickly and the two women she'd never met looked at her carefully.

"Aubrey! So glad you could come. Come in I'll take the gifts and introduce you to my family." greeted Mrs. Lowman.

"Thank you very much for inviting me Mrs. Lowman."

She smiled, "Please call me Andy everybody does. This is Gemma my godmother and this is Tara."

Aubrey smiled and shook their hands. Gemma's was firm bordering on painful, the message clear even without words she didn't trust Aubrey and to behave. Tara was friendlier, immediately asking her how easily she found the place and how work was going.

"We still have room for three more children in the daycare. I'm confident that the spots will fill quickly. Next Friday we're taking a field trip to the park for the unit on trees and animals. The kids are-"

"Miss Aubrey! You're here!" called Paxton.

He ran to hug her and he was quickly followed by Addison.

"Happy birthday Paxton and Aubrey," she smiled and ruffled Paxton's hair. "How are my favorite students doing today?"

Addison giggled and held up a doll, "Look Daddy got me this doll!"

"She's beautiful! What's her name?"

Addison looked thoughtful for a moment, "I'm gonna name her Sally."

"That's a lovely name. She looks like a Sally." Aubrey turned to Paxton, "and what about you Paxton, what are you hiding behind your back?"

Paxton grinned and pulled out his toy. It was a black motorcycle.

"One day Im going to have a motorcycle just like this! Daddy is going to help me build it." He looked very proud of himself and Aubrey couldn't help but grin.

"You're very brave Paxton. Motorcycles scare me."

She heard the women behind her chuckle and she felt her cheeks heat. These women were all with men who lived on motorcycles. She supposed someone saying they were afraid of them was silly to them but the closest Aubrey had been to one personally was when she parked next to one at the party.

"Paxton, Addison! Come out here Uncle Tig set up your swing set!" called a younger blonde man who leaned in through the open slide door connecting to the back yard. He looked to Tara and gave her a wink.

Tara blushed and Aubrey watched the frown deepen on Gemma's face. Andy grabbed Tara's hand and led her after her children it was then that Aubrey noticed the slight bump under Tara's t-shirt. Aubrey watched them leave quietly with a smile on her face. Gemma went to the fridge and pulled out a beer for Aubrey and handed it to her.

"The blonde your son?" Aubrey asked.

"For better or worse yeah." Gemma looked her up and down, "You work with kids how come you don't have any of your own?"

Aubrey who had been sipping on the beer choked slightly. Was this really any of Gemma's business? No. However this woman seemed like she was willing to get answers anyway possible. Better to have her hear her story from herself than someone else. She rubbed her forehead, "My husband and I tried for about a year. Nothing happened so we went to a few doctors. They said I had endometriosis; just a fancy way of saying it's hard as hell to get pregnant. We decided to adopt but then my husband died and well…" Aubrey shrugged.

Gemma nodded and held up her beer, "To being handed shit cards and still coming out on top."

Aubrey smiled and clinked her can against Gemma's as a set of heavy boots clunked against the floor, "What's the holdup ladies? The burgers and dogs are almost done and I am starving."

Aubrey turned to look at the man; he was well over six feet with gray blonde hair and a hard wrinkling face. He walked straight to Gemma and bent to give her a kiss, "Almost done baby. Aubrey and I were just about to bring out the rest of the food."

His eyes roamed to her, "So you're the Miss Aubrey I hear all about."

Aubrey nodded and picked up the large bowl of pasta salad in front of her, "That I am."

Gemma grabbed the bowl of salad and handed it to the man before grabbing another bowl herself, "Plenty of time to interrogate the woman later Clay, let's go eat."

Aubrey smiled and followed them both out into the backyard. It was wide open with a very shiny new swing set to the left and a grill and picnic tables to the right. She put the bowl next to the others and stepped back to watch the twins play. An older blonde boy snuck behind Addison and pulled on her ponytail. Aubrey smirked into her beer as Addison cried out and chased the blonde boy around the yard.

"You laughin at my goddaughters pain lass?"

Aubrey jumped and almost spilt her beer as a loud Scottish voice spoke behind her. She didn't bother to turn and just spoke quietly, "He likes her. Boys don't change much through the years. They still tease the girls they like in some manner."

Movement out of the corner of her eye made her turn slightly. The man beside her was smirking, his eyes a dark deep brown and black gray hair fell across them. He was a half a foot taller than her and muscled with the slightest of beer bellies. His sunglasses hung from the collar of a well worn black tshirt and his jeans were well loved as were the boots. Across his tanned handsome face was a scar running from mid cheek to his lip and further on the other cheek. Even still he was an extremely handsome man.

"I'm Chibs," he held out his hand.

Aubrey gripped it lightly. His palm was large and his fingers were long and calloused, "Aubrey, I'm the twins-"

"Teacher at the daycare, I know," he finished and pulled his hand away.

"Chibs! Get over here and help with the burgers," called Clay.

"Be right over," he called and then looked back at her, "for the record when I like a woman I tease where it counts."

Aubrey smiled as he started to walk, "But you still tease, all the years between that little boy and you and in the end it's all the same."


End file.
